Skimming apparatus



Nov. 20,1923. 1,474,397

A; F. ALLEN ET AL SKIMMING APPARATUS Original Filed Dec. 22, 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 20 1923.

A. F.Y ALLEN ET AL SKIMMING APPARATUS Original Filed Dec. 22, 1920 2 Sh eets -Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 20, 1923.

I time? a -ics.

.ARTHUR F. ALLEN AND ALFRED F. MCCOY, OF NEW YORK, N. 'Y., AND vROBERT O. STERNBERGER, OIE NENVAR-K, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS TO TIDEWATER PAPER MILLS COMPANY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A. CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SKIMMING APPARATUS,

Original application filed December 22, 1920, Serial 'N0. 432,389, Patent No. 1,406,322. Divided and. this application filed May 20, 1921.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ARTHUR F. ALLEN, ALFRED F. McCoY, and ROBERT O. STERN- BERGER, all citizens of the United States of America, residing at, respectively, New York, county and State of New York, New York, Kings County, State of New York, and Newark, Essex county, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Skimming Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

In our copending application Serial No. 432,389, filed December 22, 1920, now Patent No. 1,406,322, issued February 14, 1922,we have described a method of removing printers ink from wastepaper and the like, one of our objects being to provide an effective method which can be carried out with the use of apparatus of simple character. In the preferred practice of our method the waste paper, during or after maceration, is treated with a suitable alkali, and at a later stage the stock so produced is treated with an emulsifying agent, preferably soap. The object of the first mentioned treatment is to separate the oil of the ink from the fibre of the paper, and any suitable alkali may be used, but we have found thatcommercial sodium carbonate, commonly known as soda ash,is both effective and cheap for the purpose. Among theother alkalis that may be used we have found caustic soda to be especially suitable. In the treatment with soap, the oil of the ink is more or less emulsified and caused to rise to'the surface of the stock in the form of soapy bubbles, usually darkened or dirty in appearance by reason of the pigment carried with them.

Our present invention relates to apparatus for practising the method outlined above, and for otherpurposes, and its chief object is to provide simple and convenient apparatus of durable' character and low cost. "To these and other ends the'invention consists in the novel features and combinations hereinafter described.

Of the various embodiments of-which our invention is capable, we have selected for illustration and specific description herein the form which is disclosed in our copending application, above mentioned, of which our present application is a division.

Serial No. 471,223.

flowing stock, which, though it is of course thick or pulpy in consistency, can be considered to be a liquid.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the skimming mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line '33 of Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is a side view of the skimming mechanism from the left of Fig. 2.

In carrying out in the preferred manner the method described in our application hereinbefore referred to, the waste paper, for example waste printednewsprint paper, is macerated in any convenient manner, as for example in an ordinary beating engine such as is indicated at 10, or the paper may be shredded by other means (not shown) and the stock then transferred to the beating engine.

The consistency of the stock in the beate may vary considerably, but we have found that good results are obtained with a 6 per cent consistency, that is, a consistency such that the paper or fibre is about 6 per cent of the total mass. It is also desirable to have the temperature as high as possible without causing injury to the fibres, andour experience indicates that about 140 F. -is best for 1 the purpose.

To the hot stock in the beating'engine there is added enough soda ash orv other alkali to give the whole a decided alkalinity, the amount of alkali depending upon the nature of the alkali itself, the kind of water used, etc. After beating'for a short time, say from ten minutes to half an hour, sufficient soap, preferably ordinary laundry soap in chipped or granular form, is added 1 to the'mixtureor stock to form a saturated solution, and the beating is continued until the oil of the ink is thoroughly macerated. At this stage sufficient cold water is added to bring the consistency of the stock down to about 3 per cent and to reduce the temperature to-about F. The effect of adding the cold water is not only to thin down the stock, but also to throw-more or gine 10 is equipped with a beating roll 11 arranged transversely between the side Wall 12 and the midfeather 13, the direction of movement of the stock being indicated by the .arrow at. The skimming mechanism for removing the bubbles from the stock may be located at any convenient point where the surge or wave produced by the beating roll is not too great, but preferably at the end ofthe midfeather just before the stock flows around the end of the latter in its travel to ward the roll. The mechanism mentioned comprises a roller 14 preferably made of wood, extending across th channelbetween the midfeather and the opposite side wall 15, the roller being preferably arranged in such position that its underside just touches or is but slightly above the surface of the stock. two inclined deflectors 16, 17, extending under the roller as indicated in Fig. 3, for the purpose of deflecting or concentrating the bubbles from the sides of the channel toward the center of the roller. Beyond the roller is a dam or barrier 18 extending transversely of the channel between the mid- .feather and the side wall, and preferably inclined as indicated in Fig. 3, with its upper edge close'to the roller. The dam or barrier extends down a short distance into the stock, so that its effect will be to cause the stock itself to flow down and under the dam,

while the bubbles, trapped by the dam and -thus broughtinto contact with the underside of the roller, may adhere to the latter and be carried upwardly in the direction of the arrow 6, Fig. 3. Across the roller at a suitwhere'they can be discharged. To facilitate this flow of the material, a spray pipe 21 is provided, extending across the doctor at a slight distance above the same and connected at one end, as 22, with a source of In front of the skimming roller are' water under pressure. The pine has a series of perforations on its underside, so that the water is discharged in the form of jets upon the doctor to wash down the material and carry it through the trough.'

The skimming roller 14, rotated by the pulley 23,.is journaled at the bottom of a carrier composed of two frames 24, Fig. 4, which are themselves movable yertically in side frames .25 mounted on the side wall 15 and midfeather 13. The members or frames 24 are provided with rack teeth 26 meshing with pinions 27 on a transverse shaft'28 suitably mounted. in the frames 25 at or near the top thereof. The shaft just mentioned can be rotated to raise and lower the adjust- V able frames 24 by means of the gear 29 and pinion 30, the latter being rotated by a hand-wheel 31. A ratchet and pawl mechanism 32, associated with the hand-wheel 31 and pinion 30, prevents descent of the carrier frames 24 by gravity after they have been vertically adjusted to the desiredposition to give the proper extent of contact of the roller with the stock or liquid flowing through the channel beneath. The dam 18,

doctor 19, and spray pipe 21 are all carried by' the members 24, and it will therefore be seen that the positions of the partsmentioned relative to each other are always maintained as the roller is raised or lowered the source of water underpressure is of a kind, as for example a flexible hose, to permit vthis vertical movement of the parts.

The doctor 19 may be pivotally mounted on the brackets 33, Fig. 2, with a spring 34, Fig. 4, at one or both ends to keep it in suitably close contact with the roll as the parts wear away. Preferably the'doctor is made of a material which will take most of thewear, sinceit is more easily-and mor cheaply replaced than the roller. 7

During orafter the. skimming operation the pulp is given-a change of water, say with ordinaryrotary washing screens (not shown) to remove as much as possible of any remaining. soap and alkali and other a foreign mater.

After the stock has been cleansed by skimming and washing as described, it may be formed intostandard pulp laps on an ordi nary wet machine, or it may have added to it in. the'beater such color and mordant as may be desirable, and may then be run directly to the paper machine. For some purposes it may be mixed with newcpulp in any desired proportion, say half-andhalf.

We have found'in using caustic sodain place of or in admixture with soda ash,

that the oi1s,;andf' pigments riseto thesurface of the'stock less freely than with soda ash alone. In such case the desired removal of the oils, pigments and other foreign matters may be accomplished wholly or in part by means of ordinary rotai washing screens (not shown) attached directly to the beater.

The amount of alkali needed to give the desired alkalinity in the first stage of the process, may be found to vary in different localities, due to the difference in waters. A hard water containing carbonates and other salts will require more alkali, and soft water, that is, water which does not contain the impurities mentioned, will require less of the alkali.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific construction herein illustrated and described but can be embodied in other forms without departure from its spirit.

We claim:

1. In a rotary skimming apparatus, in combination, a channel for a flowing liquid, a rotary skimming roller extending transversely of the channel to remove material from the liquid, means adjacent to the roller for deflecting from the sides of the channel toward the center of the roller on-coming material carried by the liquid, and means for removing from the roller the material taken thereby from the liquid.

2. In a rotary skimming apparatus, in combination, a channel for a flowing liquid, a rotary skimming roller extending transversely of the channel to remove material from the liquid, means for removing the material from the roller, and a barrier adj acent to the roller to arrest in contact therewith material carried by the liquid at the surface thereof.

3. In a rotary skimming apparatus, in combination, a channel for a flowing liquid, a rotary skimming roller extending transversely of the channel to remove material from the liquid, means in the channel adjacent to the roller to deflect from the sides of the channel toward the center of the roller on-coming material carried by the liquid, a barrier adjacent to the roller to arrest in contact with the roller, material carried by the flowing liquid at the surface thereof, and means for removing from the roller the material taken thereby from the liquid.

4. In a rotary skimming apparatus, in

combination, a channel for a'flowing liquid,

a rotary skimming roller extending trans- V versely of the channel to remove material from the liquid, a doctor cooperating with the roller to remove material taken thereby from the liquid, a trough arranged to receive from the doctor the material removed thereby from the roller, and meansfor discharging water into the trough to wash out of the same the material received thereby.

5. In a rotary skimming apparatus, in combination, a channel for a flowing liquid, a rotary skimming roller extending transversely of the channel to remove material from the liquid, a barrier adjacent to the roller to arrest in contact with the roller, material carried by the flowing liquid, and means for raising and lowering the roller and the barrier simultaneously to vary the extent of contact of the roller with the liquid, and to maintain the barrier in fixed position relative to the roller.

6. In a rotary skimming apparatus, in combination, a channel for a flowing liquid, a rotary skimming roller extending transversely of the channel to remove material from the liquid, a doctor cooperating with the roller to remove the material therefrom, and means for raising and lowering the roller and the doctor simultaneously to vary the extent of contact of the roller with the liquid and to maintain the doctor in relatively fixed position with respect to the roller.

7. In a rotary skimming apparatus, in combination, a channel for a flowing liquid, a rotary skimming roller extending transversely of the channel to remove material from the liquid, a carrier for the skimming roller, means for raising and lowering the carrier to Vary the extent of contact of the roller with the liquid, a barrier carried by said carrier adjacent to the roller and in position to extend into the liquid flowing through said channel, to arrest in contact with the roller, material carried by the flowing liquid, and a doctor carried by said carrier and cooperating with the roller to remove therefrom the material taken by the roller from the liquid.

In testimony whereof we hereto affix our signatures.

ARTHUR E. ALLEN. ALFRED F. MCCOY. ROBERT O. STERNBERGER. 

